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Experts are urging Halloween partygoers who are planning to wear spooky lenses this year to buy and wear them safely, The Mirror reported.

Mr Badrul Hussain, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Each year we treat patients, including children under 16, who have developed eye conditions after wearing cosmetic contact lenses.

“There can be an increase in these problems in the period around Halloween. Some of the cases we see, like patients sharing lenses with friends, wearing the same pair year after year well past the expiry date, and storing them in tap water, have devastating effects.”

A variety of lenses are being sold - often illegally (Image: EyeEm)

By law, cosmetic contact lenses should only be supplied under the supervision of a registered optician or doctor who will check the lenses will not cause damage and provide aftercare advice to reduce the risk of infection.

But every year doctors see patients with eye damage caused by the contacts.

In 2014 Nicola Cavanagh, 42, was wearing a pair of cat contact lenses for Halloween but struggled to remove them after she came home from a party.

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When she finally managed to take them out she was in so much pain she visited the hospital – where doctors told her she had ripped off the top layer of her corneas.

She said: “I’ve never felt pain like it, it was like someone was pouring bleach into my eyes. I was in casualty, screaming – it was absolutely horrific.

“The nurse called for the specialist when she saw the damage. It was more frightening than anything else. “I just want to warn everyone else, I would never have worn these lenses if I’d have known the damage they could cause.”